The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District earned more than $130,000 in 2012 from the sale of water from Clendening Lake to the oil and gas industry for use in the hydraulic fracturing process.

Both sales were to Gulfport Energy, an Oklahoma-based company that is exploring for natural gas, primarily in Harrison, Belmont and Guernsey counties.

In May, Gulfport withdrew 7.81 million gallons from the lake for its Boy Scout Well, using a temporary pipeline. Under its agreement with the MWCD, the company was allowed to use up to 11 million gallons.

Between Nov. 11 and 22, it withdrew 7.28 million from Clendening Lake via a temporary pipeline to service a nearby well site.

“That volume is less than 1 percent of the summer pool at Clendening,” said Darrin Lautenschleger, public affairs administrator for the MWCD. The summer pool is 8 billion gallons.

In both cases, the conservancy district charged Gulfport $9 per 1,000 gallons of water, earning $70,324 in May and slightly more than $65,500 in November, Lautenschleger said.

“The MWCD has pledged to use dollars gained from any sales of water to the oil and gas industry for surface-water quality protection and improvement programs in the Muskingum River Watershed,” he said. “To date, no projects have been done with these funds.”

Water sales sparked a protest at the Tuscarawas County Courthouse in June by members of the Buckeye Forest Council, an environmental group. That protest, in part, prompted MWCD officials to halt further sales to the oil and gas industry until it can update its water supply policy.

Earlier this year, the MWCD board of directors approved an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey to perform a water availability study for three MWCD reservoirs – Atwood, Clendening and Leesville. Another study is being developed by a private engineering firm.

“Data from those studies is expected by the end of the year or the first part of next year,” Lautenschleger said.

In September, the conservancy district’s board of directors authorized short-term water sales to the industry from Clendening and Piedmont lakes during the drawdown period, when billions of gallons of water are released downstream as part of routine flood reduction operations.

MWCD officials cited the desire to reduce the number of tanker trucks using area highways as a reason for agreeing to the sales.

To date, no water has been sold from Piedmont, Lautenschleger said.

He was unaware of any plans for future sales.

“Inquiries have been received, but no sales are planned at the moment,” he said.